Ore-jig.



E. FOUST.

ORB JIG.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 2, 1910.

Patented Feb. 7, 191.1.

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H. FOUST.

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ORE JIG. APPLICATION FILED MAYZ, 1910.

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HENRY FOUST, OF GALENA, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF lT0 GEORGE I-I. VTIL- LIAMS, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOS, AND ONE-FOURTH T0 SYBIL JOHNSON, OF MULLAN,

IDAHO.

ORE-SIIG.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY FoUsT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galena, in the county of Syracuse and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful 1mprovenient in Ore-Jigs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvement in jigs, for use in orc-concentration, coal-washing, and the like, and of the class wherein the material to be treated is deposited upon a horizontal screen and stratified, more especially according to the specific gravities of its ingredients, by means of water-pulsations direeted against the material through the screen. ln j igs of this character it is desirable for perfect operation to cause the water-pulsations to be directed with equal force thoughout the area of the screen, and for this purpose it has been usual to pro-vide plungers operating at opposite sides of the screen against the water in the hutch. TWhile jigs so constructed produce satisfactory results when the plungers are properly adjusted, and maintain their adjustment tov move in perfect synchronism, any slight change in time of operation between them or any variation between them in distance of play, which often occurs in practice, causes an inequality of pressure at different sides of the screen and consequent surging of the water and lack of uniformity in the waterpulsations throughout the jigbed upon the screen. This lack of `uniformity in pressure throughout, during the pulsations, tends to interfere with perfect stratification 4of the material and consequently perfect separation. Furthermore, the plungers as they rise tend to pull unduly against the jig-bed and draw material which it is desired to keep upon the screen into the hutch.

My object is to provide a of the character described which will employ but one lunger for each cell irrespective of the width of the screen and at one side thereof and have the same effect of rendering the pulsations uniform throughout as when two perfectly synchronous plungers are employed, as described, without the disadvantages mentioned that are apt to occur in the use of two plungers.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a three-cell jig provided with my improvements, the section being taken on irregular line 1 in Fig. 2; Fig. 2,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application iled May 2, 1910.

Patented Feb. "i, 1911.

Serial No. 558,778.

an enlarged broken cross-section taken on line 2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 8, a broken section illustrating the draw-o mechanism of a cell; and Figs. 4 and 5 broken sections taken, respectively, on lines 4 and 5 in Fig. 8 and viewed as indicated by the arrows.

The three cells shown in Fig. 1, namely, the first cell 6, the second cell 7, and the third cell 8, are separated by partitions 9 and 10. 11 is an inlet-spout, or chute, through which the material to be separated is fed, the partition 9 being somewhat lower than the said chute, the partition 10 somewhat lower than the partition 9, and the end, or final discharge, chute 12 being somewhat lower than the top of the partition 10. Each cell has an inclined base 18, terminating in a hopper 14, leading to a valved discharge-pipe 15, and the upper part of each cell is divided by longitudinally-extending partitions 16 and 161 into three compartments 1T, 18 and 19, respectively, all in open communication at their under sides with the hutch, or mainchamber portion, of the cell. n each compartment 18 is a more or less horizontal screen 2O of suitable mesh extending the full length and width of the compartment; and in each compartment 17, which is in effect a cylinder, is a plunger 21 operated from an eccentric 22. ln each con'ipartment 19, well above the level of the screen 20, is a dia phragm 28 having an opening 24 through it closed at its under side by a spring-supported check-valve 25. Each valve 25 is suspended upon pins 26 passing through the diaphragm and surrounded by light, valveclosing springs 27. Discharging into the compartment 17 is a water-pipe 28 and a similar pipe 29 discharges into the compartment 19 above the diaphragm 23. lt is to be understood that when the valve 25 is closed the diaphragm is air-tight. In each cell at one side is a draw-off, which may be of any suitable construction, that illustrated consisting of achute 30 emptying int-o the trough 31. The draw-off opening 32 to the chute is above the plane of the screen 20 in each instance and extends from behind a semi-circular shield 33 projecting downward to a pla-ne somewhat above the screen to leave the opening 34. Beneath each compartment 19 is a shelf 35, the area of the space between which and the lower end of the partition 16 equals, preferably exactly, that of the space between the lower end of the partition 16l and base 13, whereby the openings between the compartments 17 and 19 and the hutch-portion of the cell are of the same areas.

The shown and described is adapted for the concentration of three ore-constituents of diiterent specific gravities and their separation from each other and the tailing; and as the general operation of stratifying and discharging the different ore-constituents in jigs of this kind is well understood, a detailed explanation thereof in the present connection is thought to be unnecessary.

vWater suiiicient to maintain the proper level in each jig-cell enters in equal proportions through the pipes 28 and 29, as it is found to be advantageous to supply the wa-y ter to the hutch from opposite sides of the screen. 'In each upward stroke of the plunger water passes downward around the same and, by opening the normally-closed valve 25, water enters also from the compartment 29 above the diaphragm 23. The valve is preferably so adjusted that it will admit in each instance approximately the. same amount of water as enters past the plunger in the upward stroke ot' the latter. In each downward stroke of the plunger water in the hutch is displaced and caused to rise through the screen against the ore thereon, for the well-known purpose. The diaphragm 23 and valve 25 are above the normal level of the water in the ig, which is, say, at the line 36 in Fig. 2, leaving an air-space beneath the valve. Thus, in each downward stroke of the plunger the pressure which causes water to rise through the screen 20 is also exerted to compress the air pocketed beneath the diaphragm 28, whereby in the next upward stroke of the plunger the air in expanding again forces water back from that side ot the screen into the hutch. This retrogression of water from the compartment 19 tends, in a large measure at least, to overcome any material suction action beneath the screen, due to the rise of the plunger, and the air-cushion tends to prevent any momentary variation in pressure against opposite sides of the jigbed. As a consequence the descent of the body of ore and water in the compartment 18, in each instance, will depend upon the gravity thereof alone, which it has been found in practice leads to more desirable results in the matter of stratification of the material and prevents the undue withdrawing of material from the jig-bed into the hutch.

l The compartment 19 may be equipped in any other way, than that shown and described, to admit the water at that side of the cell and afford the desired air-cushion, and various changes in the construction of the apparatus may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as generally set forth in the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. In a jig of the character described, the combination of a cell having a hutch-portion, oit a screen above said hutch, a waterpulsator at one side of the screen in open communication with the hutch, and an aircontaining compartment at the opposite side of the screen in open communication with the hutch, whereby air in said compartment is alternately compressed and permitted to expand by the operation of the pulsator.

2. In a jig of the character described, the combination of a cell having a. hutch-portion, a screen above the said hutch, a waterpulsator at one side of the screen, an aircushioning compartment also at one side of the screen in open communication with the hutch, and a water-admitting check-valve in said compartment. i

3. In a jig of the character described, the combination of a cell having a hutch-por tion, a plunger compartment and plunger therein at one side of the screen, an air-cushioning compartment at the opposite side ot' the screen, a diaphragm in the air-cushioning compartment in a plane above the level.

vof the screen and having an opening through it, a water-admitting check-valve governing said opening, both compartments being in open communication at their lower sides with the hutch, and means for supplying water to each of said compartments.

4. In. a of the character described, the combination of a 'cell having a hutch-portion. a screen above the said hutch, a plunger compartment and plunger therein at one side of the screen, an air-cushioning ccmpartment at the opposite side of the screen, a diaphragm in the air-cushioning compartment, above the normal water-level in the cell, having an opening through it, a wateradmitting check-valve governing said opening, both compartments being in communication with the hutch through openings of equal area at their lower sides and means for supplying water to each of said compartments.

HENRY FOUST.

In presence of- R. A. RAYMOND, J. G. ANDERSON. 

